


Dangerous

by Cybra



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Family Drama, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cybra/pseuds/Cybra
Summary: For my Ducktales Secret Santa 2019 person, hrai-roo!(Set during "The 87 Cent Solution!") After Gizmoduck rescues Dewey from getting killed by the Sunchaser, Louie is forced to confront that ever since they met their Great-Uncle Scrooge, the world has gotten a lot less safe.
Relationships: Scrooge McDuck & Louie Duck
Comments: 3
Kudos: 56





	Dangerous

**Author's Note:**

> For my Secret Santa recipient. Merry Christmas! Also, it always felt like “The 87 Cent Solution!” took place over a few days, not just one afternoon. Why else would they think it was possible Scrooge lost so much weight so fast without dragging his tailfeathers to a hospital?
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** _Ducktales_ belongs to the Walt Disney Company.

_‘He…he just fired missiles…at us. And Dewey…Dewey nearly...’_

Louie stood frozen. No matter how many times he repeated the horrible thing he’d just seen, his brain refused to properly process it. As everyone else rushed to check on Dewey, he couldn’t budge from this spot.

It wasn’t that he thought Duckburg was safe. True, he’d once thought that along with thinking that Donald had been merely overprotective. (In his defense, his uncle did overdo it at times even now.) However, he’d realized that Duckburg wasn’t immune from danger when Pixiu was accidentally released.

_‘And that wouldn’t have happened if Scrooge hadn’t kept a dangerous dragon locked up in his garage!’_

Louie turned his head to look towards Scrooge who seemed lost, confused. True, the old man had saved him, Webby, and Huey, but that didn’t excuse what he’d nearly done. Dewey could’ve died if Gizmoduck hadn’t been able to reach him before Launchpad and the _Sunchaser_ had.

_‘It’s not the first time he’s put us in danger.’_

It wasn’t just all those adventures in faraway places, far from the safe and familiar. No, ever since they’d first connected with Scrooge, Duckburg had become a dangerous place. It wasn’t just Pixiu. The Beagles had never looked twice at them before they’d gone to live with the old miser even though they had to know the ducks were related. Magica and her Shadow War. Tiny, angry tribal warriors. _Harpies._ All of this had happened _after_ they’d met up with Scrooge.

 _‘He put Mom in danger, too.’_ Louie gave his head a vehement shake. _‘No. No, don’t go there! We all decided to put that in the past!’_

But had he really done that? Or had he just been playing along the whole time?

A poisonous whisper in his mind: _‘He built the rocket.’_

_‘Let it go!’_

_‘He basically waved a big red flag in front of a bull. What did he think she was gonna do once she saw it?’_

Louie felt ill. As Gizmoduck carried the soaking wet but blessedly alive Dewey back towards the Bin, it was a miracle the youngest triplet didn’t lose his lunch all over the bridge.

He looked back to Scrooge, the old man’s face now stricken as he watched Gizmoduck approach.

_‘Is it sinking in now, you crazy old man?! Is eighty-seven cents really worth almost killing us?!’_

“Are you all right, lad?” Scrooge asked cautiously.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” But Dewey wasn’t meeting Scrooge’s eyes, glaring angrily at the asphalt.

Huey stepped in, giving a strained smile. “Let’s all go home and relax. Uncle Scrooge, I’m sure you could use some rest and – ”

“I told you that I’m not resting until I’ve stopped Chester!” Scrooge turned on his heel and marched back into the Bin without another word.

Nobody stopped the miser. Perhaps the tense silence held them _all_ prisoner, not just Louie.

“Louie? You okay?” Huey placed a hand on his shoulder.

Louie swallowed. “He nearly shot us. With missiles.”

“He’s not thinking straight.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious,” Dewey grumbled.

Gizmoduck rolled closer, bending over. “Come on, kids. I’ll take you home.”

“But…shouldn’t we at least – ?” Webby began.

“Let’s just go.” Louie snapped before he climbed up into Gizmoduck’s arms.

After a moment, Huey and Webby climbed onto his shoulders. Dewey jumped up to hang onto the superhero’s back.

Gizmoduck looked towards the wreckage of the _Sunchaser_ where Launchpad was studying the broken plane. “You coming, Mr. McQuack?”

“I’ll be there in a bit. Promise.” Louie had never heard Launchpad sound so grim.

“Right. Okay. Hang on tight, kids.”

Louie watched the Bin shrink in size as Gizmoduck rolled them away to the mansion that was increasingly less safe as time went on.

* * *

After a sleepless night spent periodically waking up in a cold sweat, Louie and the others had gone to the Bin to confront Scrooge. It hadn’t worked. Nor had the next attempt the following day.

Scrooge was deteriorating at a hyper-accelerated rate, yet Louie didn’t feel sorry for the old man. It was impossible to feel any sort of empathy for someone who fired missile after missile at you in your nightmares, after all. Let the old man continue putting himself at risk. At least in this case it was just _Scrooge_ risking anything.

But as they failed to stop Scrooge from leaping to certain death, Louie realized who Scrooge posed the greatest danger to: himself. And he’d spent the past few days convincing him that that didn’t matter.

 _‘Didn’t those three days after the_ Sunchaser _teach you anything?’_ his often-ignored conscience snapped.

He squeezed his eyes shut, fully expecting to hear the terrible _thud_ that was sure to follow a failed money dive. He prayed he wouldn’t hear the old miser’s bones shatter, too.

Instead, he heard ** _ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!_** “Okay…maybe I am a wee bit sick.”

Louie’s eyes snapped open. He put a hand to his chest, not even hearing the rest of the conversation as he focused on calming his breathing.

_‘It’s okay. He’s okay. Everybody’s okay.’_

His conscience was mercifully silent, but the guilt still roiled in the pit of his stomach. Particularly when Gizmoduck had to catch Scrooge as the ill man finally collapsed from days of self-neglect. It further emphasized how he and the others had left Scrooge to his own devices and he’d nearly killed himself.

_‘Is this what happened to you during those ten years, too?’_

He didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t stop.

Perhaps he and the others were just as dangerous to Scrooge as Scrooge was to them.


End file.
